MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The grit Baker Mayfield showed Tampa Bay down the stretch of his debut sure outweighed the rough start.
Mayfield recovered to throw two touchdown passes without a turnover, and the Buccaneers beat Minnesota 20-17 in the season opener after three first-half turnovers by the Vikings on Sunday.
“It wasn’t our prettiest effort by any means, but we finished the right way,” Mayfield said.
But after going an NFL-record 11-0 in one-score games during the 2022 regular season, the Vikings ran out of that late-game mojo.
The Vikings have less urgency around Jefferson with two seasons left on his rookie contract.
Persons:
Baker, Mayfield, ” Mayfield, Chase McLaughlin, Tampa Bay —, Todd Bowles, “, Tom Brady, Mike Evans, Shaquil Barrett, Chris Godwin, ”, ” Kirk Cousins, Jordan Addison, Alexander Mattison, Justin Jefferson, Kevin O'Connell, Jay Ward, McLaughlin, Trey Palmer, Cousins, Antoine Winfield Jr, Vita Vea, Christian Izien, Osborn, Izien, Ed Ingram, ” Cousins, Evans, Jefferson, Bud Grant, Grant, LB Lavonte David, Vea, Calijah, C Garrett Bradbury, LT Christian, OLB Marcus Davenport, ___
Organizations:
Buccaneers, Minnesota, Vikings, Tampa Bay, Bucs, Browns, Panthers, Rams, BEST, The Vikings, LB Lavonte, LT, NEXT Buccaneers, Host Chicago, Sunday
Locations:
MINNEAPOLIS, Tampa, Winfield, Jefferson, Philadelphia